Category Archives: Framed Art

This month’s issue of Lonny Magazine includes some great ideas for framed art.

I think my favorite wall is this first one because of the creativity. What a great way to offset a teeny tiny window in the bathroom by making it appear a part of a gallery wall! The only caution with framed art in the bathroom is it can easily get steam between the art and the glass. Use inexpensive prints in the bathroom, and frame with spacers between the matting and the glass so the artwork doesn’t touch the condensation. The best bet for bathrooms is canvas art, with oil or acrylic that won’t be harmed by moisture.

First off, I am loving the grasscloth wallpaper on the ceiling. Such an interesting texture in an unexpected place. The computer monitor and file folders are offset by the artwork on the wall for a less office-y look.

In the living room below a painting has been framed in a circular frame, modernizing the piece and making it a focal point rather than an unnoticeable been-in-the-family-forever painting.

And a corkboard surfaced with wallpaper and framed in a vintage frame ties pictures together, making the backdrop for this desk a work of art. And would somebody tell me where to buy that white chair please?

I’ve been wanting to make a paper butterfly shadowbox ever since I saw this post. I had already purchased a cute little frame from the thrift store for $1.99. When I took the frame apart to paint it I was happily surprised to see that it was the perfect shadowbox frame. Oh the little thrills in life.

After painting the frame with Behr’s “Pooh’s Favorite Things” leftover from the nursery’s French Provincial Dresser redo, I measured the visible part inside the frame (5″ x 5″) and printed out a grid that would leave me with 16 intersections where I could place my butterflies.

I bought my punch for $7.50 (on sale at Jo-Ann Fabrics). I punched my butterflies out of scrapbook paper I already had on hand.

My projects are all about easy/fast these days with a little girl on the move. After brainstorming the easiest/fastest way to attach the butterflies along the grid, I decided to hang my decorative paper on the computer screen over the grid. (A window would work as well, but at night after Hailey is in bed, I had only one option).

I gently folded each butterfly down the center and arranged them on my desk in the order I wanted to mount them.

I needed a safe place to store these delicate butterflies until I could complete my project, and taping them to the side of my dresser was the perfect solution.

I cut two strips of foam core to fit inside the shadowbox frame to separate the glass from the backing board/artwork. This turned out to not be the smartest way to go about it because I didn’t have a thin enough board and had to cut the foam down further, meaning that I would need to glue the foam to the inside of the frame. Unfortunately in my haste I assumed it would work out fine.

I glued the foam inside the frame with Aleene’s tacky glue and Zots.

I measured the inside of the frame and drew a line around my butterflies and cut the backing paper.

I mounted the backing paper to a piece of acid-free mat board cut to size with acid-free Zots. Then the backing boards went into the frame, secured with tacky glue. Unfortunately, once the glue was dry and I picked up the frame, I saw that one of my foam core strips had come loose from the top of the frame and was hanging down. I’m so disappointed in myself and my shortcuts! I should have used acid-free mat board when I knew the foam core wouldn’t work. But here it is, very cute despite the exposed roofing. And for 9.49+tax with the punch for later use, it was a pretty frugal project.

This close-up shows off my pretty butterflies but unfortunately shows the foam core detaching from the top as well. Such a bummer.

Did you miss the piggy bank and coat rack posts, visit them here (pig) and here (coat rack).

Hailey and I made a little trip to Spokane. The plane rides were not very fun with my 14-month-old, but I had a great time with my family. My mom had purchased an old window for $12 at a vintage thrift store, and we brainstormed how she could use it in the family/TV room. We decided it would be the perfect way to display a photo collage from our recent trip to the Oregon Coast. (Remember our Cannon Beach shopping post?) A quick trip to Michaels yielded adhesive foam mounting circles for giving the collage some dimension, and a brown corkboard pack of 4. (I didn’t know about this dark cork before – it’s so pretty!) I recolored some of our trip pictures to sepia using Picasa, and sent them to be developed.

First step, cutting the cork to allow for a 1″ margin inside the windowpane. Remember when cutting something soft like cork or foam core, you want to use a straight edge and a new box-cutter blade. Cut through in 3 swipes or so.

Then I cropped and arranged our pictures on the cork.

I used the foam mounting circles to mount the pictures to the cork, using 1, 2, and 3 stacked to vary the height of the pictures.

The side angle shows the dimension of the pictures on the foam tape.

Now the exciting part! (Though I must warn, these pictures aren’t a great quality as the light in the basement was dim.) I measured from the ceiling and marked with painter’s tape to make sure the window would hang evenly. Then I held the window up so my mom could tape around it. That way we could mount the cork on the wall centered in the tape before hanging the window.

I wanted to hang the window from a ribbon, but it was too heavy to count on a ribbon holding long term. Luckily the window has sturdy hinges that worked perfectly for hanging. I marked and placed the nails, and used foam tape that came with the cork to mount it in the center of the taped off area.

After hanging the window from the hinges, here’s the result:

For the illusion of the window hanging from a ribbon, I cut a double length of ribbon and looped it through the second hole in each hinge and tied it over a nail.

This turned out to be a great way to feature some of our favorite vacation photos, all taken by my talented brother and sister-in-law. If I were to have done anything differently, it would have been to develop the pictures in a matte finish and mount them each on matboard to keep them from bending and glaring.